Bio-Inspired Monitoring of Pervasive EnvironmentsApostolos Malatras∗, Fei Peng∗ and Beat Hirsbrunner∗

∗Department of InformaticsUniversity of Fribourg, SwitzerlandEmail: {name.surname}@unifr.ch

Abstract—Successful deployment of the pervasive computingparadigm is based on the exploitation of the multitude ofparticipating devices and associated data. It becomes thereforeevident that there is a necessity to provide optimal resourcediscovery mechanisms, the effectiveness of which will constitutethe foundation for the efficient operation of pervasive computingenvironments. To mitigate the drawbacks brought by the inherentnature of pervasive environments, i.e. dynamicity, heterogeneityand scalability of the network infrastructure, we propose toemploy P2P overlay networks that lead to more manageabletopologies and optimize resource monitoring by scaling downthe degree of complexity. In particular, we take advantage of bio-inspired self-organization mechanisms to construct reliable P2Poverlays and thus provide more robust and adaptive monitoringsolutions. High-level policy-based management operations drivenby monitored context information enable a further level ofruntime adaptation and optimization, subject to the overallapplication requirements. We report here on our ongoing workin this research area.

I. INTRODUCTION

The proliferation of ubiquitous networking solutions expe-rienced in the last few years in the context of ever popularpervasive application scenarios and the high rates of user adop-tion of wireless technologies lead us to believe that there isan established paradigm shift from traditional, infrastructure-based networking towards wireless, mobile, operator-free,infrastructure-less networking [1]. The latter constitutes thefoundation of existing and prospective pervasive environments.To effectively manage such environments, P2P overlay net-works are increasingly built on top of heterogeneous wiredand wireless networks to mitigate their drawbacks regardingscalability and topology instability and to allow for efficientresource discovery by means of monitoring (e.g. [2], [3]).

When designing reliable P2P overlay networks, the emerg-ing requirements from the underlying networking infrastruc-tures have to be taken into consideration, e.g. mobility, dy-namic topologies, node failure. Moreover, the inherent natureof pervasive environments necessitates the distributed con-struction and maintenance of such overlays, since centralizedsolutions over dynamic network structures are not scalable andsuffer from the presence of a single point of failure. In ourview, robust P2P overlays can be designed by taking advantageof the beneficial properties of bio-inspired mechanisms, suchas those exhibited by swarms and ants. These mechanisms relyon self-organization and make use of localized information tooptimize, in terms of specific criteria, the entire network, whileadditionally supporting robustness and adaptation in highlydynamic situations.

Building on our previous work that was applied in gridsystems [4], we present here our initial work on addressingthe provision of reliable monitoring of pervasive environments,by exploiting bio-inspired P2P overlay networks. The core ofour work is a P2P overlay algorithm based on the behavior ofant colonies, which adaptively optimizes the overlay structurein terms of different cost functions (e.g. maximum link delayto support QoS guarantees). To achieve a further degree ofadaptation, we also consider a higher-level policy-based man-agement layer capable of reconfiguring the aforementionedmonitoring scheme. This layer operates in the background, col-lecting context information, processing them, matching themto policy conditions and inferring necessary configurationchanges that are enforced in order for the monitoring layerto adjust its functional behavior, e.g. by reconfiguring theunderlying protocols to reflect varying requirements.

In this paper we present a unified architecture encompassingboth the aforementioned monitoring and management layers.Their integration effectively leads to an autonomic manage-ment cycle, where the ant-based monitoring mechanisms arecontinuously optimized by the management layer using acontext-aware, policy-based approach. Our work also servesas a proof-of-concept of the merits of the synergy betweenbio-inspired and pervasive computing.

The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section IIpresents an overview of related work on adaptive P2P overlays,while Section III introduces the proposed architecture anddescribes its monitoring and management layers. Section IVdetails preliminary evaluation results regarding the ant-basedP2P overlay. Finally, Section V concludes the paper andprovides insights to future research directions.

II. RELATED WORK

Bio-inspired methods and techniques have found applicabil-ity in complex systems management, especially in cases wherereliability and flexibility are required, since they have desirableproperties such as robustness to failure of components, abilityto be adaptive to changing conditions and lack of necessityfor centralized control [5]. In particular, emergent behaviorcoupled with self-organizing capabilities both provide theincreased reliability and scalability that is desired in distributedsystems along with the ability to react and adapt to unexpectedsituations. Such methods are more and more necessary toface the dynamics of current heterogeneous networks and theirmanagement by means of P2P overlay networks, i.e. logical

Work in Progress workshop at PerCom 2011

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structures requiring constant adaptation in the way that theyare coupled to physical networks [6].

Considering the field of network management, a generalframework based on swarm intelligence principles was pre-sented in [7] to handle related issues. Moreover, bio-inspiredmanagement of topologies in unstructured P2P overlay net-works was discussed in [8], by proposing epidemic and gossip-based protocols for load balancing and search. The T-Man pro-tocol introduced topology management for structured overlaynetworks using the model of cell adhesion that has been stud-ied in developmental biology [9]. Several P2P and grid systemsuse ant algorithms for scheduling, load management andresource discovery purposes such as Messor [10] and Anthill[11], while the recently proposed Self-Chord framework [12]allows for the efficient construction and maintenance of a loadbalanced P2P overlay using self-organized ant-like agents.

Whereas the aforementioned approaches bear significantbenefits in terms of efficacy and adaptivity, their configurationsettings remain unaware of the actual network conditions andare also bound to the initial optimization criteria. Taking intoaccount the dynamicity of pervasive computing environmentsand the possible change in application requirements, wepropose an additional level of adaptation based on collectedcontext information and high-level management policies. Sim-ilar approaches include the MobiPADS middleware [13] thatuses context information to enable application adaptation,as well as a context-driven autonomic approach to MANETmanagement based on high-level policies that was studied inour previous research [14]. The middleware approach for thereconfiguration of mobile applications presented in [15] isconceptually close to the work we plan to undertake, albeitapplied on services state migration, while in the direction ofusing intelligent agents, as in our case with ant-like agents,a middleware for the context-aware adaptation of ubiquitousservices is presented in [16].

III. ARCHITECTURE

Figure 1 depicts a heterogeneous network scenario, wherea P2P overlay network is employed to increase scalability andreduce complexity. Resource discovery mechanisms operateon the overlay to enable higher-level services and applicationsto query for information and the status of network resources inthe overall pervasive environment. Flexible P2P overlay net-work adaptation is required to accomodate the variety of bothapplication and network requirements. Extensibility is alsoof primary concern, in order to fulfill potential configurationchanges that have not been conceived at the time of designor simply because the initial optimization criteria have beenrevised. We have consequently selected to exploit Policy BasedManagement (PBM) principles to benefit from their supportfor both flexibility and extensibility [17]. Policies, definedas event-condition-action rules, are utilized to indicate thenecessary overlay configuration changes upon the occurenceof specific context-driven events in the pervasive environment(monitored by means of the bio-inspired P2P overlay). Inthis respect, context information needs to be disseminated

across the network, leading to the requirement for efficientmanagement of the context distribution so as not to overloadthe underlying network and to effectively ensure the timelyoperation of the architecture. In order to reach these objectives,we opt for a modular architecture (Figure 2) comprisingtwo layers to allow for flexibility and extensibility, whileadditionally supporting a clear separation of concerns.

Fig. 1. Monitoring pervasive networks with the use of P2P overlay networks

Network monitoring layer: It is inspired by swarm intelli-gence principles and in particular ant-based algorithms for theconstruction of a P2P overlay on top of pervasive networksin order to increase resilience against dynamic changes. It isresponsible for the monitoring of network devices and theirstatus, as well as of data and services related to the pervasiveenvironment itself. A set of interfaces is exposed to higherlayers in order to query for and retrieve information.

Network management layer: It is in charge of deducingconfiguration changes to be employed on the monitoring layerbased on context information collected from the pervasive en-vironment and policy-based management principles. Pervasiveapplications that require access to information register theirinterest with the information discovery component.

A. Monitoring Layer

Monitoring is performed over a bio-inspired P2P overlaynetwork, by exploiting limited and selective flooding tech-niques similarly to our previous work [4]. The algorithm tocreate and maintain the P2P overlay network is based on anumber of ant-like agents that operate on the network bymigrating across nodes and optimizing the virtual overlaytopology according to specific cost criteria, e.g. maximum linkdelay or characteristics of physical network connections. It isimportant to note that the ant-like agents perform changes inthe topology locally for every node that they visit, but the dis-tributed nature of the proposed ant-inspired algorithm (basedon the principles of Ant Colony Optimization [18]) ensuresthat optimization occurs for the entire overlay topology.

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Fig. 2. Modular architecture to monitor pervasive environments

The proposed overlay management algorithm is fully dis-tributed; nodes do not have global information on the networktopology. Ant-like agents roaming the network collect anddisseminate information about the neighbors of nodes andthus eventually assist in nodes formulating a wider pictureof the overall network topology. Additionally, further infor-mation about the network nodes is being distributed in orderfor the nodes to be able to calculate the cost of links aspreviously explained. Starting from a logical overlay topologymatching that of the physical network, overlay links in everynode are re-arranged according to two simple rules. The firstinvolves creation of new links to optimize the topology; anew link is created between two non-connected nodes if thecummulative cost of the path between them is larger than auser-defined optimization parameter max cost. For example,QoS guarantees might be offered when maximum delay isused as the cost criterion, leading to bounded delay overlaysand hence delay-constrained resource discovery. The secondrule aims at removing cycles from the overlay that reducethe performance of monitoring mechanisms, due to the highprobability of visiting the same nodes and in particular inwireless environments because of the inherent nature of thetransport medium, i.e. hidden terminal problem. The secondrule removes overlay links that are part of cycles of length lessthan a user-defined parameter min cycle. To avoid networkpartitioning only one node in a cycle is allowed to break it,in which case it unidirectionally informs the remaining cyclenodes of this action to prevent multiple breaks. In all cases,special attention is given to retaining the node degree boundedand balanced across all nodes to avoid the creation of hubs.

These two local rules lead to the creation of an optimal,according to specific cost criteria, P2P overlay network. It

should be noted that the migration of ant-like agents is basedon the real-world notion of pheromones, i.e. agents preferablyfollow frequently visited paths since they are most likely to bereliable. A significant feature of our algorithm is that is allowsfor the concurrent management of more than one P2P overlays,each adhering to a different cost criterion. Such an approachis tightly bound to our viewpoint of dynamically adapting theP2P overlay according to high-level requirements and allowsthe on-the-fly switch between different P2P overlay structures,in addition to local reconfigurations. An in depth descriptionof our algorithm is omitted here due to space constraints.

B. Management Layer

Monitoring solutions are influenced by the adverse char-acteristics of pervasive computing environments and theirunderlying networks and even adaptive and self-organized ap-proaches such as the bio-inspired ones will eventually requirereconfiguration. The reason for this lies in the fact that thepreset configuration settings of the bio-inspired monitoringalgorithm are based on both specific network conditions (e.g.highly volatile or static topologies) as well as on particularoptimization criteria (e.g. optimize in terms of delay or pathlength), which are both subject to changes. Consequently, thereis a need for techniques that mitigate these problems in orderto enable efficient network management and monitoring. Wetherefore introduce a management layer that resides on top ofthe monitoring layer and guides the adaptive reconfigurationof the monitoring algorithm based on available context andpredefined policy rules.

The management layer is composed of three components,i.e. context management, policy-based managemenent andadaptation. Context awareness, achieved by means of thecontext management component of our architecture, assists inbuilding more predictable and thus more reliable long-termpervasive environments by providing higher and lower levelinformation regarding the participating nodes, which can aidin predicting their current and prospective status. When suchknowledge for each and every node has been predicted anddisseminated across the network by the context managementcomponent, the future topology and conditions of the networkcan be foreseen, allowing thus for the proactive and failsafeadaptation of the P2P network monitoring protocol. In thisrespect, high-level management rules expressed as policiesguide the reconfiguration of the monitoring layer. Since thereconfiguration of the P2P overlay algorithm is performed in adistributed fashion, both coordination and homogeneity of theconfiguration changes across all nodes need to be considered.The policy-based management component is responsible forthe latter, keeping track of the active policies and ensuringtheir network-wide uniformity, while additionally interactingwith the context management component to gain commonunderstanding of the network context. The combination ofshared context and common policies ensures effective anduniform distributed policy enforcement. Finally, the adaptationcomponent is in charge of translating the high-level actionsdefined in the policies to specific configuration changes in the

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P2P overlay. Space limitations prevent us from describing theproposed architecture in further detail.

IV. EVALUATION

Preliminary experimentation regarding the ant-based overlayis based on simulation using the OMNET++ discrete eventsimulator, which we plan to extend by allowing it to interfacewith the management layer of our architecture that is currentlyunder development. An aspect that we are interested in evaluat-ing is the effect of the decentralized operation of the algorithm,in particular its efficiency to converge to stable overlays despitenodes having only a local view of the network, as derived byinformation collected by the ants. Figure 3 illustrates the effectof a growing per node local network view on the numberof overlay edges. The results refer to an overlay optimizedin terms of short average path lengths (hence the increasingnumber of edges) for a random network topology of 1281nodes, which becomes dynamic (1 node joining and one livingevery 4 seconds) after 7200 seconds as indicated in the graph.

Fig. 3. Overlay edges for expanding local network view

It is important to note that in all cases the number of edgesin the overlay converges to a stable state over time and evenduring the dynamic case convergence occurs quickly albeitthe increase in the number of edges. The latter is attributed tothe inherent adaptivity of the adopted bio-inspired approach.When only few information is available, nodes generate moreedges to optimize the cost function, but they are usuallyredundant or could have been avoided subject to a widerknowledge of the network that would allow for a broader rangeof possible nodes to link to in an optimal manner.

V. CONCLUSIONS

We presented here our ongoing work on an integratedaproach to handle monitoring of pervasive environments,which incorporates bio-inspired techniques to optimize re-source discovery as well as adaptive, policy-based manage-ment to guide the reconfiguration of the aforementionedtechniques in accordance with higher level objectives. More-over, having briefly described our proposed architecture, weillustrated encouraging preliminary results regarding efficientoperation of our ant-inspired monitoring P2P overlay.

Our future work will focus on further experiments regardingP2P overlay optimization using our ant-inspired algorithm andthe overhead of the latter. We expect that several overlaystructures will be maintained and it will be the responsibilityof the management layer of our architecture to decide upon theone that will be activated to perform monitoring and resourcediscovery based on the application requirements.

VI. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The work presented in this paper was conducted in thecontext of the BioMPE project that is financially supported bythe Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF), grant number200021 130132.

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